[[quoteright:298:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/veronica_mars_movie_3600.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:298:People call her a marshmallow.]]

->'''Logan''': I need your help, Veronica.\\
'''Veronica''': I don't really do that anymore.

''Veronica Mars'' is a 2014 crime thriller and [[BigDamnMovie a film continuation]] of [[Series/VeronicaMars the television series of the same name]]. The film is co-written and directed by series creator Rob Thomas, and reprising their roles are Creator/KristenBell, Creator/JasonDohring, Creator/PercyDaggsIII, Creator/RyanHansen, Creator/FrancisCapra, Creator/TinaMajorino, Creator/ChrisLowell, Creator/EnricoColantoni and a number of the supporting cast.

Nine years since the series finale, Veronica has given up crime-solving, graduated from Stanford with a psychology degree, and is on the verge of finishing law school in New York with a great job opportunity. But her past in Neptune rears its ugly head when she's contacted by ex-boyfiend Logan Echolls, who's been accused of murdering his popstar girlfriend and needs Veronica's help to clear his name. The case leads Veronica back to Neptune just in time for her high school reunion, and lands her in more trouble than ever.

Plans for the ''Veronica Mars'' film were being kicked around since the series' cancellation, but they only came to fruition in March and April of 2013 when Rob Thomas and Kristen Bell launched a Website/{{Kickstarter}} [[http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/559914737/the-veronica-mars-movie-project project]] to help fund a feature film project. By the time the Kickstarter ended, it had raised $5.7 million and became the biggest film-related Kickstarter in the website's history. Creator/WarnerBros signed on to distribute and market the film, and it received a simultaneous theatrical and on-demand release on March 14, 2014.

Though a sequel was never made, it was announced in August 2018 that Creator/{{Hulu}} had commissioned a fourth season of ''Veronica Mars'' to air the following year, which more or less picks up a few years later from where the movie left off.

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!!Tropes in the film include:
* AbortedArc: The storylines that hung around the final episode are never discussed in the movie. Was Keith ever indicted for destroying evidence proving Veronica broke into the Kane house, among other things?
* ActionGirl: Veronica is every bit as badass as she was in the series.
* AdamWesting: [[spoiler:James Franco.]]
* AloneWithThePsycho: Veronica thinks she is this with [[spoiler:Gia Goodman. Turns out, Cobb is the real psycho and Gia is under his thumb .]]
* AndTheAdventureContinues: [[spoiler:Veronica goes full time with Mars Investigations, with Mac on the payroll.]]
* BackForTheDead: [[spoiler:Susan Knight (revealed in flashbacks to have died around the end of Season 3)]], Carrie Bishop, [[spoiler:Deputy Sacks, and Gia Goodman]].
** Not mentioned: Backup, Mars' dog (between Season 3 and The Movie).
* BackForTheFinale: Lots of appearances from minor characters on the show. More than a few characters appear in a single scene where they help Veronica in some way before disappearing for the duration.
* BackInTheSaddle:
** Veronica has left her Private Eye ways far in the past, having changed schools and started a new life, and is on the verge of becoming a lawyer for a high-profile law firm when she finds out an old classmate has been murdered and her ex boyfriend Logan is the prime suspect. Somewhat {{Deconstructed}} in that her obsession with the case (and possibly, with Logan) proves destructive to her career and relationships.
** And as part of the BittersweetEnding, we see that [[spoiler:Weevil]] is back to his old ways again.
* BarBrawl: One erupts after Veronica's sex tape is played at the high school reunion as a cruel prank. Logan goes into a blind rage, Piz jumps in to help him when he gets in over his head, Dick jumps in because it looks like great fun, Weevil reluctantly gets involved (initially it seems he's torn between wanting to help and not wanting to look bad in front of his wife), and Wallace joins in only after shutting off the video. Veronica ends this nonsense by activating the fire sprinklers.
* BelligerentSexualTension: Veronica's narration highlights this as an early factor in her relationship with Logan. The same narration also highlights how that relationship was ultimately doomed.
* BettyAndVeronica: The season 3 love triangle returns in full force.
* BigBad: [[spoiler:Cobb.]]
* BigDamnMovie
* BitingTheHandHumor: A few minutes in, it takes a jab at Kickstarter. Contextually, this may also count as a case of good-natured SelfDeprecation as well, as Piz is making a snide remark about a project being funded by Kickstarter while on air.
* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Veronica catches the real murderer and Dan Lamb's incompetence has been exposed, but many innocent people are dead, Neptune is still a powderkeg of class tensions, and both Veronica and Weevil have surrendered to their self-destructive impulses.]]
* BrickJoke: Logan's "Free Hugs" cap [[spoiler:had a hidden camera that recorded their conversation with Dan Lamb.]]
** The mid-credits {{stinger}} shows [[spoiler:James Franco]] still trying to find a rhyme for "orange".
* BusCrash: [[spoiler:Carrie Bishop and Susan Knight]]. By the end of the movie, also [[spoiler:Gia and Deputy Sacks.]] (Nothing to do with the actual bus crash from season 2.)
* CallBack: Lots, in just the first few minutes.
** Piz brings up the time that Logan [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown beat the crap out of him]].
** The [[ToAbsentFriends In Memoriam]] slide-show hosted by Madison at the reunion includes mention of Felix Toombs, as well as Meg Manning and one or two other victims of the bus crash from Season 2. The three out of eight victims who would have graduated in the Class of '06 are mentioned, and there's also no call-back to Lilly (would have been class of '05) or Cassidy (would have been class of '07), presumably for the same reason. It's a nice bit of attention to detail, even for a movie that does such a good job of sticking to canon.
** Several moments match up with moments from the series, such as: Dan Lamb being fooled by Veronica impersonating a sexy reporter, as was his brother; Veronica texting "I love you, dad" [[spoiler:when Cobb is after her]] much like she tried to call him in "Not Pictured"; Veronica reveals the events of Carrie Bishop's death with the same words she used for Lilly Kane's; and of course, the return of the "Epic" speech.
* TheCameo: Beyond the characters from the series who only turn up for a scene or two, there's...
** [[spoiler:James Franco as himself]].
** [[Series/TheMiddle Eden Sher]] as his assistant, Penny.
** Dax Shepard as a hilariously over-the-top drunken lech at the 09er.
** Creator/JustinLong as a wingman in the same scene.
** Creator/JamieLeeCurtis is the woman who interviews Veronica at the law firm she's applied to.
* CanonDiscontinuity: With the exception of Piz, nothing is mentioned of Season 3 (how Keith was facing charges for destroying evidence, or how Vinnie was to become sheriff). Probably for the best.
* CentralTheme: Addiction. At first, it seems Veronica's addiction is Logan, but as the film progresses, it's actually [[SamaritanSyndrome crime solving]] that is her addiction. [[AllGirlsWantBadBoys And also Logan]]. Veronica's inability to let the mystery go and just get the hell out of Neptune ultimately costs her [[spoiler:her job, her relationship with Piz, and finally her chance to escape Neptune for good.]]
* ChekhovsGun:
** The stun gun, the pepper spray, and the prepaid cell phone, all from Veronica's box of "Accessories".
** Also, Veronica's [[invoked]][[OldShame sex tape,]] which gets edited into a video montage aired for the high school reunion.
** Also, hidden surveillance devices. A variety get described in passing, just about every single one gets used by the end of the film.
* ClearTheirName: Logan is accused of murder, and turns to Veronica to prove his innocence.
* ContinuityNod: When Veronica opens her box of PI gear, she finds her ID stash from Season 1's "[[Recap/VeronicaMarsS01E12ClashOfTheTritons Clash of the Tritons]]", including Lily's driver's license and the fake "Licensed Massage Therapist" ID.
* CoolestClubEver: The 09er.
* CouldHaveAvoidedThisPlot: Nobody actually did anything wrong in [[spoiler:Susan Knight's overdose]], but it's PlayedForDrama and lampshaded in that [[spoiler:Stu manipulated them into disposing of the body so they ''would'' be implicated.]]
* TheCuckoolanderWasRight: [[spoiler:To a degree. Ruby had the right reasoning but came to the wrong conclusions; the "Serendipity" tattoo wasn't about Carrie's father's firm but his boat, and her album was a confession to a secret in her past, but it was about Susan Knight's death as opposed to something that happened in Catholic School. When Veronica explains her EurekaMoment to Logan, he points out how much like Ruby she sounds.]]
* DameWithACase: Like the TV series before it, the film begins with this trope gender-flipped: when Veronica's back in town for her high school reunion, her old flame Logan (a gender flip of the FemmeFatale) is arrested for the murder of his fiance, Carrie Bishop, and asks Veronica for her help in finding the real murderer.
* DeadpanSnarker: Everyone. This ''is'' ''Veronica Mars'', after all.
* DiegeticSoundtrackUsage: At the beginning of the film, Veronica and Piz pass a street busker playing "We Used To Be Friends", the series' RealSongThemeTune. The original Dandy Warhols version plays over the end credits.
* DirtyCop: In the interrim the position of sheriff has been taken by Don Lamb's older brother Dan. Keith notes that he's as lazy and incompetent as his little brother, but far more openly corrupt. While Don would prosecute even rich people if the evidence pointed to them, Dan hires himself out to the wealthy and affluent, doesn't even pretend to be interested in bringing justice and regularly plants evidence on suspects.
* DistantFinale: From the very beginning the entire movie provides one for the series, being set around a decade after the show. In true Distant Finale tradition, particularly following on from a show set in a high school, several characters (Mac, Dick, Madison) have turned out more or less exactly as you'd expect, while others (Logan, Weevil) are revealed to have changed a good deal.
* EndsWithASmile: Though it's a BittersweetEnding, the final shot is of Veronica sitting down at her desk in Mars Investigation, smiling to herself. It's left ambiguous if this is because she's back where she should be (in Neptune) or if she's given in to her destructive impulses.
* EvilLawyerJoke: Veronica uses the existence of this trope as proof that Private Detectives are more respected than lawyers.
-->'''Veronica''': Tell me ''one'' Private Detective Joke...
* {{Expy}}: Carrie’s musical career seems to be a mishmash of Music/LanaDelRey’s DIY sound and aesthetic with Music/KatyPerry’s early life background as a Christian girl from Southern California.
* FromBadToWorse: Neptune has gotten much worse since Veronica left.
* GoodLookingPrivates: Logan became a pilot in the Navy, and even greets Veronica at the gate in his dress whites.
-->'''Veronica:''' You should only wear this. Like, ever.
* HeelRealization: [[spoiler:Deputy Sacks]]. By way of explaining his HeelFaceTurn, he retells an old joke, as featured in a ''Series/ThatMitchellAndWebbLook'' sketch about a pair of ObviouslyEvil Nazis who look at their skull insignia, the pile of dead bodies, and their boss, and realize they're the bad guys. [[spoiler:He is abruptly killed soon after.]]
* InHarmsWay: Veronica. She likens the detective lifestyle to an addiction, one she thought she'd kicked by leaving Neptune, and describes the future she'd been working towards as a high-powered New York lawyer as "boring". [[spoiler:By the end, she's embraced her "addiction".]]
* ItsAllAboutMe: Madison at the Reunion. After Veronica's sex tape is played on the big screen for everyone to see, a brawl breaks out and Veronica breaks it up by setting off the fire sprinklers. Madison proceeds to deliver a WhatTheHellHero to Veronica about her having to ruin everyone else's fun. [[TalkToTheFist So Veronica slugs her.]]
* KarmaHoudini: [[spoiler:Dick gets a free pass for being involved in the boat death. He really did pass out before everything happened, thus letting him totally avoid the questions about not checking on the girl who eventually died, avoid not being woken up to dispose of the body with the anchor, not get photographed throwing the girl overboard, and not get blackmailed for 10 years.]] Not to mention [[spoiler:despite several others from the series getting the comeuppance they've long deserved, Dick still gets a free pass for drugging the drink that led to Veronica getting raped. By this point it really feels like Rob Thomas and Kristen Bell's affection for Ryan Hansen is affecting how the story should go.]]
* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: At the end of the film, Veronica delivers what would otherwise be a ClusterFBomb were it not for her repeated use of the word "effing" as a self-censor. Logan [[LampshadeHanging thanks her for keeping it PG-13]]. The movie was rated PG-13, and Veronica had already cashed in the film's only allowed PrecisionFStrike midway through.
* MoodWhiplash: The film starts out relatively light for a murder mystery, but things get much darker after [[spoiler:Keith ends up in the hospital.]]
* MythologyGag: Leo D'Amato finds Veronica waiting for him at his desk at the San Diego Police Department, and mistakenly thinks she's asking for assistance on an FBI case. This is a reference to Rob Thomas' proposed retooling of the show after season three, which would've skipped ahead to Veronica as a junior FBI agent (a short pilot was produced, starring Kristen Bell and [[Series/TheShield Walt]] [[Series/{{Justified}} Goggins]], and appears on the third season [=DVDs=]). {{Lampshaded}} further by Veronica when Leo, genuinely puzzled that she's working a case as a PI, asks whether the rumour he heard about her joining the FBI was true:
--> '''Veronica:''' "In another life, maybe."
* NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished: [[spoiler:Weevil sees an SUV being harassed by a bunch of [=PCHers=] on his way to pick up diapers for his kid. He knocks on the door to ask if the driver needs help and promptly gets shot by said driver...[[TheCameo Celeste Kane]]. In the end she enlists the police to help make it look like he was the gang leader, including planting a stolen gun on Weevil.]]
* OffscreenInertia:
** The movie can talk all it wants about how Veronica and Piz broke up shortly after season 3 and only recently got together again, but to a lot of fans, especially the ones who thought he was TheScrappy, it still feels exactly like they were together all those years.
** Also joked about: Veronica asks Madison if she's been sitting in the same spot since the last time they talked 10 years previously.
* PornStache: Deputy Sacks. Veronica makes a crack about how he kept it until it came back in style.
* PrecisionFStrike: Veronica is getting hit on at a bar. Her response is simply to snarl ''"fuck off"'' at the creep.
* PrivateEyeMonologue
* ProductPlacement: The Skype logo can be seen during a video call, and much of the plot revolves around Samsung Galaxy Note tablets.
* RedemptionEqualsDeath:
** [[spoiler:Deputy Sacks is murdered in a deliberate car crash shortly after he confesses to Keith about the rampant corruption in the sheriff's department.]]
** [[spoiler:Veronica confronts Gia about her affair with Cobb and how she was involved in covering up Susan Knight's accidental death nine years before and Carrie Bishop's recent murder. Gia reveals that Cobb in fact blackmailed them all with Susan's death and that she has been his sex slave for years. When she notes that he's always looking at her through her window, she immediately gets shot to death with a sniper rifle.]]
* RememberTheNewGuy: Cobb was created for the movie and never appeared on the show, whereas nearly all of the other Neptune High alumni had shown up in the series before.
* ReplacementSibling: Neptune County Sheriff ''Dan'' Lamb (played by Creator/JerryOConnell), big brother of [[spoiler:the late]] Don Lamb. He's basically the latter done right: Rob Thomas always envisioned Don Lamb as an irredeemably venal stooge for the well-off, but several sympathetic moments ([[DracoInLeatherPants and no doubt his looks]]) throughout the show led to Don acquiring a surprisingly large fanbase. Dan Lamb plays the part much straighter in TheFilmOfTheSeries.
* {{Retcon}}: Despite the movie remaining ''very'' faithful to the canon established by the series, there are a couple of minor ones:
** At Veronica's job interview, the interviewer mentions that Veronica was issued a PI licence on her 18th birthday. We see Veronica pass her test and get licensed in Season 3, sometime ''after'' her ''19th'' birthday.
** When Veronica and Piz's sex tape is shown at the reunion, the snippet that appears on-screen is a close-up shot, and makes it clear that the couple in the video are having full-on sex. In Season 3, the video is a wide-angle shot from a hidden, static camera at the opposite end of the room; furthermore, Veronica's initial disbelief about the tape's existence is based on the fact that they hadn't actually had sex yet when the video went viral, and it was clarified that the tape doesn't in fact show them having sex, just non-specified "fooling around".
** While they're not exactly Retconned Out, Veronica's summary of the series makes no mention of Duncan or Cassidy, despite the fact that their roles in the series were of comparable importance to those played by Lilly and Logan, both of whom are mentioned at length, and even Aaron Echolls is mentioned a couple of times. Presumably this is down to LawOfConservationOfDetail, since none of the events related to them have any direct impact on the film.
** And of course there's the aforementioned CanonDiscontinuity mentioned above with regards to Season 3: Piz is the only character introduced in that season to appear or even be mentioned in the movie, despite the fact that the season added a new female lead (Parker Lee) and several new recurring characters whose story-lines were never fully resolved. There's also no mention of Keith's looming legal troubles at the end of the season, or his and Vinnie's competing bids for the role of sheriff at around the same time.
* ReunionRevenge: {{Averted}} as far as the murder mystery goes. Veronica ends up attending her ten year high school reunion during the course of the plot, but the timing has no bearing on the main mystery. Minor, non-fatal versions of this trope occur, however:
** Madison Sinclair gets hold of Veronica and Piz's sex tape and shows it on the screen as a mean-spirited prank. Even nine years since she last saw her, she still ''really'' has it in for Veronica.
** Mac {{Lampshades}} this trope with her reason for attending the reunion despite not liking most of her former classmates: "As a high school nerd success story, I have to take my victory lap."
* [[SeanConneryIsAboutToShootYou Sean Connery Is About To Take Your Photo]]: The movie poster.
* SelfDefenseRuse: Well-to-do [[RichBitch Celeste Kane]] is cornered and harassed by a group of bikers before Weevil (a former criminal who has turned his life around) arrives and chases them off. Celeste pulls a pistol and shoots Weevil (non-fatally) in her panic. This is then covered up for her by the [[DirtyCop corrupt Sheriff]], who plants a weapon on him. Sadly, this event causes Weevil to go back to crime.
* SequelHook: [[spoiler:The whole "police corruption" subplot is left unresolved, with the implication that Veronica's mission going forward will be to try and clean up Neptune. Ultimately ignored as neither the books nor the eventual fourth season, which are set after the film, address it.]]
* ShipSinking: [[spoiler:Piz & Veronica]].
* ShoutOut:
** Piz notes that Neptune High really ''does'' [[Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer sit on a Hellmouth]].
** The logo to the 09er club is the same logo of Silver Pictures, the company that executive producer Joel Silver heads.
** To ''Film/TheAccused'' when Veronica and Logan are in the karaoke bar.
** Veronica claims that her dad is the [[Film/ItsAWonderfulLife George Bailey]] of Neptune.
** Mac shows up at Veronica's house and they rehash the "[[Film/BlazingSaddles Candygram for Mongo]]" bit.
** The celebrities listed with Bonnie [=DeVille=] (the name Carrie Bishop took for her singing career) in the sidebar for the TMZ transmission [[spoiler:after Cobb is arrested and Sheriff Dan Lamb's corruption is revealed]] are ''Veronica Mars'' guest stars Creator/ArmieHammer, Creator/JessicaChastain, Creator/LeightonMeester (about whom see also TheOtherDarrin in the Trivia tab), Creator/AaronPaul, Creator/MelissaLeo, and Creator/ParisHilton.
** Wallace says at the reunion "Alexis Link" promised to hook up with him if they were both single. Alexis Link is one of the fans who contributed to the Kickstarter campaign.
** When Veronica first sees Logan at the airport in his uniform, she asks [[Film/AnOfficerAndAGentleman if he's going to carry her]]. [[spoiler:[[BrickJoke He does so later]] after Keith is hurt]]. Also, the PG-13 dialogue referred to above (see LeaningOnTheFourthWall) is from Creator/JackNicholson's "You're gonna have to ask me nicely" speech from ''Film/AFewGoodMen''.
** Explaining his HeelRealization, [[spoiler:Deputy Sacks]] references a classic [[Series/ThatMitchellAndWebbLook Mitchell and Webb]] sketch about the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uK-kWRAVmRU Nazis]] (the same sketch, incidentally, that provides the HeelRealization page quote).
** During the BarBrawl sequence, Dick takes a swig of his flask, strolls into the brawl, and shouts, "[[Series/TheOC Welcome to the BC, ]][[ThisIsForEmphasisBitch bitch!]]" before his fists start flying.
** When he sees Veronica has no idea Wallace and Mac are taking her to the reunion, Keith imitates Film/CharlieChan.
** Dan Lamb's password (according to Mac) is "[[Film/PointBreak1991 [=JohnnyUtah=]69]]"
** When he sees her, Vinnie calls Veronica Neptune's [[Series/MurderSheWrote Angela Lansbury]].
* SiblingYinYang: A notable difference between the Lamb brothers is that Don, while a total ass-hat, is actually on the up-and-up, following what the evidence says even if it would either set people he dislikes free or imprison those he would normally suck up to. His brother is straight out corrupt.
* StalkerWithACrush:
** Ruby Jetson, otherwise known as onetime Neptune High classmate Della Pugh. She's implied to have had a long-term obsession with Carrie Bishop since high school. Her crush on Logan seems to simply be a desire to have what Carrie had.
** [[spoiler:Stu]] was obsessed with Gia since high school too, selling drugs to her and her friends just to be around her. [[spoiler:He forces her to have sex with him after he manipulates her to cover up Susan's death.]]
* StatusQuoIsGod: By the end of the movie pretty much every single main character is back where they started at the end of Season 1. [[spoiler:Veronica? Back in Neptune, back as a PI. Weevil? back in leather, on his bike and in charge of some sort of PCH-like group. Wallace and Mac? Back as Veronica's main source of school related info and Veronica's IT department respectively. Logan and Veronica? Back together and yet not because he's off to fly jets for 180 days. ]]
* TalkToTheFist: Madison ends up getting laid out by Veronica at the Reunion.
* TelepathicSprinklers: Veronica breaks up a fight by holding a lighter to a single sprinkler head, which causes all the other sprinklers to go off except for the one directly over her.
* ThatPoorCat: Subverted. It looks like the BigBad is going to shoot the cat through a trash can, but the cat later appears unharmed.
* TimeSkip: The movie takes place at Veronica's ten-year high school reunion, nine years after the events at the end of the show's final season. Interestingly, [[FridgeLogic this means]] that the film takes place TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture, since Veronica graduated in the class of '06, so the film released in 2014 is presumably set in 2016 (although they don't say it outright).
* ToAbsentFriends: At the Reunion, Madison reads off a list of classmates who have passed away, before segueing to other topics.
* TrueCompanions: Veronica, Wallace, Weevil, Mac, Piz, and Logan. Dick also fits to a certain degree.
* WhamEpisode: [[spoiler:Three. The first is Celeste Kane accidentally shoots Weevil, who was trying to help her. The second is when Keith and Sacks are t-boned by a massive hummer: Keith survives; Sacks does not. The third is Gia being shot in the chest as she's revealing to Veronica who the BigBad is.]]
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->''Hello, Veronica.''